Chamblee54

r/bukowski had a tasteful video, Wrestling with Bukowski’s Problematic Treatment of Women. Some well meaning person really wondered if Hank’s chauvinism was a problem. If you think Hank Chinaski is a role model, then you have more problems than the Fulton County DA office.
As if that is not bad enough, about 163 seconds in, gageaa4 says that Hank is the “Walt Whitman of neat whiskey.” (I thought he said deep whiskey, but was corrected.) Now, while you are handing out virtue signifiers, you might call Hank a homophobe. In Tales of Ordinary Madness, a homo hitting on Hank gets cut up. This is marginally harsher than the way Hank treats women. In Factotum, Hank says he is turning fag when he cleans his apartment.
Uncle Walt lived in a pre-prohibition America, and probably drank his share of whiskey. This was in 19th century America, before commodified fire water, refrigeration, easy access to ice, and many other features of modern dipsomania. The Walt Whitman of neat whiskey was probably Walt Whitman. I rather doubt that Walt would enjoy being compared to Hank Chinaski.
This business of giving Hank the #metoo treatment brings to mind other instances of standards being retroactively applied. … “Fordham University hosted a symposium on (Flannery) O’Connor and race, supported with a grant from the author’s estate.” (The panel discussion included Karin Coonrod.) “The organizer, Angela Alaimo O’Donnell” … (who wrote) “Radical Ambivalence: Race in Flannery O’Connor.” … takes up Flannery and That Issue. Proposing that O’Connor’s work is “race-haunted,” she applies techniques from whiteness studies and critical race theory …” In other words, The Flannery O’Connor Trust is financing a university to examine MFO, using “techniques from whiteness studies and critical race theory.” There is something deeply rotten about this.
Forget what Hank Chinaski would think about #metoo. He probably would want to slug 90% of his current admirers. This is a common problem for dead poets. Someone even wrote a poem about this.
henry charles chinaski bukowski, would hate my sonnet if he had a chance
at coffee drinking open mic poetry, dickhater georgia gothic romance
hank thinks poems that rhyme are a bore, like baseball nuns or men who cry
some people think he died in ninety four, california dirt will tell you don’t try
hank still has a racetrack episode, bets on number nine horse to kill
with a twenty fished out of the commode, after taking a dump on top of the bill
forever spitting out poems like hot turds, on the morning after beer drunk words